Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks

ABOUT VNFN

Across Vancouver, networks of committed people are focusing on food justice and resilience at the neighbourhood level. Creation of these Neighbourhood Food Networks (NFNs) represent the will of community members, organizations, and agencies to collaborate on community-based food initiatives and programs. VNFNs provide a space for NFN representatives from across the city to collaborate, share best practices and advocate for food justice with a unified voice.

GROWING FOOD LOCALLY

Community and school gardens connect people around the rich experience of growing food and foster environmental stewardship.

CELEBRATIONS & EVENTS

Celebrations involving food meet physical, spiritual, social and emotional needs, while at the same time increase community awareness around food security and reduce social isolation.

FOOD SECURITY FOR ALL

Accessing food includes drop-in meals, bulk buying clubs, mobile produce markets, emergency food access, and more. We acknowledge and work to break down barriers that prevent people from accessing nutrient-rich, affordable, and personally acceptable food.

EDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT

NFNs share knowledge and resources around every level of our food systems. Education and engagement takes the form of workshops, community kitchens, lectures and films, advocacy, and research.

Upcoming Events. For events in your neighbourhood, please click on that network's link on the above map

Thank you to all who supported the Raise the Rates 2016 Welfare Food Challenge. Those of us who participated in the Challenge learned first hand of the harsh experience of people in our province who are having to survive on the current social assistance rates. Eating on $18 week is extremely cruel.

Now that the Challenge is over, let’s funnel the energy and enthusiasm into action.

Tell people about our new campaign, called We Can’t Afford Poverty. We Can’t Afford Poverty is an arts-based campaign that is aiming to keep poverty and homelessness at the forefront of the coming election campaign. By signing onto our mailing list, people will be tapped into Raise the Rates’ action campaign as we move towards the election.

Donate the money saved on food purchases this week to Raise the Ratesto help support and broaden our campaign efforts. Paste this link into your browser for the online donation form: https://www.gifttool.com/donations/Donate?ID=2022&AID=4470. The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition will pass on the money to Raise the Rates as we don’t have an online form.

This year’s Welfare Food Challenge starts on October 16th and participants will be expected to purchase all of the food that they consume for 7 days with only $18. This is the amount that Raise the Rates, the organizer for the challenge, has calculated someone on welfare has left for food after paying their expenses. Last year the amount was $26, but the rising cost of rent has reduced the amount by $8 to a measly $18. It’s clearly impossible to adequately feed oneself with $18 per week and the Challenge emphasizes the absurdity of a social welfare system that produces such an outcome in a rich country.

Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks (VNFNs) work to reduce food insecurity through initiatives such as community kitchens, food rescue, bulk buying, skills building workshops, meal programs, and advocacy, and recognize that policy action is needed to address the root causes. “Sadly, we are seeing a rise in demand and increasing waitlist for some of our food distribution programs….many people simply cannot afford to buy food when faced with the increased cost of living in Vancouver. People are forced to choose between paying rent and buying food. We recognize that the Welfare Food Challenge is not a Challenge that can be won” says Ian Marcuse of the Grandview Woodland Food Connection.

Income assistance rates in BC have been stagnant for the last 9 years, with a single person receiving only $610 a month. This is not enough to support basic needs, nor positive health outcomes. Furthermore, these rates violate people’s human rights and basic dignity. The Dietitians of Canada (2016) point out that there are serious negative effects on physical and mental health when people cannot afford a healthy diet – food prices in BC have risen 12% since 2009 and “it is timely for further income and disability assistance reform so that more British Columbians can afford sufficient healthy food and meet their nutritional needs.”

Raise the Rates’ Welfare Food Challenge draws attention to this issue from the lens of food insecurity. VNFNs support Raise the Rates’ call to action to raise income assistance rates recognizing that people require the financial means to purchase their own food, and will be participating in the Challenge. Charitable food solutions to hunger are not solving the problem: more than 12% of British Columbians remain food insecure even with substantial amounts of support from the charitable food sector. Local communities are doing their part and VNFNs call on the provincial government to increase food security by raising income assistance rates.

VNFNs represent 12 neighbourhoods across Vancouver and engage with the most marginalized community members, witnessing first-hand the detrimental impact that barriers to accessing food and abject poverty can have on complex health conditions, such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and cardiovascular disease. It is often those with the greatest need for high quality nutritious food that face the most difficult barriers to accessing it.

Nourish Our Neighbourhood is our annual fundraising campaign. One hundred percent of proceeds from this campaign will go to support community-based food initiatives in your community. 50% of net proceeds will be given in your neighbourhood and 50% will fund the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks, our umbrella organization.

Schedule of activities coming soon.Grain, Janna and Shara pictured, who won the Supplier of the Year Award from Vancouver Magazine, donated a ton (yes, almost 2,00 lbs) of beans to Little Mountain Neighbourhood House and we distributed to food security programs city-wide.
Join us as celebrate Chickpea Fest including hummus making + all things chickpea in the Year of the Pulses. It is estimated that one in five Vancouver households report some level of food insecurity.

Check out the recently published article in the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) Social Justice newsletter titled Food Justice: Setting the Table for Everyone (page 10) written by Ian Marcuse, Coordinator of the Grandview Woodland Food Connection.

The Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks are honored to be one of several recipients of this year’s Dinner Party YVR fundraising.

Here’s how it works: Hobby chefs — aka people who love to cook and entertain — host dinner parties across Vancouver in support of their favourite charities. Diners (aka you!) select a meal to attend and have an awesome night out, meeting new friends, and then joining up with all of the other dinner party guests, Hobby Chefs, charity representatives and partners at the after party.

A big thank you to Homestead Junction for their generous donation of $543 to the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks. Please help support the VNFNs by supporting Homestead Junction who are donating 1% of membership sales to our group.